When Bill Ritter, Colorado’s beleaguered Democratic governor, anointed Michael Bennet to fill the United States Senate seat of Ken Salazar who was appointed Secretary of the Interior by President Obama, most Coloradans were stunned.

“Who is Michael Bennet?” they wondered.

It turns out that Michael Bennet is Harry Reid north, a reliable vote for the hard left Senate Majority Leader. Bennet has tried to project a moderate image, but the upcoming vote on bringing Obamacare to the Senate floor –the only vote that counts– will define Bennet for the year long Senate race ahead.

On his Senate website, Bennet writes: “Health care reform needs to reduce health care costs for Coloradans, preserve choice of health insurance, improve access to quality, affordable care-especially for all kids and for families living in rural area – and be done in a way that does not overburden future generations with debt.” Obamacare does none of these things, but instead slashes Medicare benefits for the half million Colorado seniors who receive them, imperils the livelihood of the Rocky Mountain State’s 10,000 doctors, and will drive the cost of doing business up for every employer in the state. The taxes embedded in every version of Obamacare will hit every Coloradan, adding to the already rising tax burden that is fueling Colorado’s swing back to the right.

It is possible that Bennet will figure out the only way he survives in his first run for office next year is to refuse to vote for cloture and to make a big show of it. Democrats will try to encourage him to allow the debate to begin and end and then vote against the final bill, but Colorado voters are far too savvy for such a dodge. Michael Bennet, just like Evan Bayh and Blanche Lincoln, is in control of whether or not Obamacare is allowed to wreck American medicine.